The next chair of the Anoka County Board could be a former chairman, a former candidate for lieutenant governor or the son of a former chairman. Or maybe it will be a former commissioner.

The current chairman, Dennis Berg, is retiring when his term concludes at the end of the year, and any of the seven commissioners who are in office come January could replace him. Five seats are up for election on Nov. 2, and at least three will be held by newcomers.

The two commissioners who don't face reelection this year -- Dan Erhart and Rhonda Sivarajah -- are among several names cited as possible chairs-to-be by Berg and Dick Lang, who also is retiring. Between them, Lang and Berg will have served 37 years on the board.

Berg and Lang agree that while it's anyone's guess who will head the board, the four most likely contenders are Erhart and Sivarajah, along with Jim Kordiak, who is running for reelection against Gregory Sloat, and Natalie Steffen, a former board member facing Ramsey City Council Member Matt Look.

Steffen, first elected to the board in 1982, is now a member of the Met Council, and she hasn't served on the board since 1991. She was commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services from 1991 to 1993.

"I'm guessing that if Natalie gets elected, Natalie will be chair," Berg said.

Lang wouldn't go that far. He said Steffen would "steady the course, "but she's been out of county government for a long while. We'll see. She has to win her election first."

If Look, a fiscal conservative, defeats Steffen, there could be strong support for Sivarajah to be the next chairman. Sivarajah, who was the running mate of former GOP gubernatorial candidate Marty Seifert earlier this year, has been a strong conservative voice on the board.

She would need three otherconservatives to become board chair. Incumbent Robyn West, running for reelection against Blaine City Councilman Mike Bourke, has been Sivarajah's one constant ally the past four years. State Sen. Debbie Johnson, who is running against former state Rep. Andy Westerberg for Lang's seat, also might support Sivarajah.

For her part, Sivarajah said: "Right now, I'm focused on my job. Let's leave the possibility alone... until after the election."

She also said that "one of the things people need to realize is that all the commissioners hold the same election certificate. Just because one person is chairman of the board doesn't mean they have any more power than someone else."

As for Erhart, few in Anoka County have the connections in Washington and throughout the state that he has. A former chairman of the county board, he was the engine who drove the Northstar commuter rail project for a decade before its unveiling last November. He's been among the strongest proponents of a passenger rail line from Minneapolis to Duluth.

He also wants Northstar extended to St. Cloud or beyond. And he is pushing for new rail stations in Coon Rapids (at Foley Boulevard) and in Ramsey.

But Erhart, who also fought for a Vikings stadium in Blaine four years ago, is chairman of the regional rail authority, and he said wearing another chairman's crown might be too much.

"I'm not particularly interested in doing it again," he said of being chairman. "I would never say no. But I'm more interested in putting myself in a position to help the people of this county."

Kordiak, the current vice chairman and son of renowned board chairman Al Kordiak, needs to get past Sloat, a relative newcomer to county politics, on Nov. 2.

"Being vice chairman on this board doesn't mean you automatically become chairman," Lang said. "Kordiak would be a very good chairman, but he also owns a business. It could come down to a matter of having enough time to do both."

In another district race for the seat vacated by Scott LeDoux, his wife, Carol LeDoux, is running against Becky Fink. Berg and Lang didn't bring their names into the conversation about the next board chair. Nor did they expect West, Bourke, Look, Johnson or Westerberg to be the next chair.

"Regardless of who it is, the county will be in great shape," Berg said. "These are very capable people. That's good news for the people of Anoka County, no matter what their political preference is."

Paul Levy • 612-673-4419